Fujitsu Laboratories of Europe Collaborates with Australian National University on Supercomputer Research

Sydney, Tokyo and London, June 16, 2011

Fujitsu Laboratories of Europe Limited today announced an award of A$446,000 (US$ 474,000) by the Australian Research Council for a three-year Linkage Project1 with The Australian National University.

The new project, entitled "Robust Numerical Solution of Partial Differential Equations on Petascale Computer Systems with Applications to Tsunami Modeling and Plasma Physics", is aimed at applying new mathematical ideas to exploit the unprecedented computational power of the next generation of supercomputers. The objective is to develop new techniques and software that will be key enablers for the science needed to understand the workings of complex dynamical systems. Fujitsu Limited supports this project through the efforts of Fujitsu Laboratories of Europe, and, in tandem with this, continues to develop supercomputers that realise world-class performance.

Commenting on behalf of Fujitsu Laboratories of Europe, team leader and Partner Investigator for Fujitsu, Dr Ross Nobes, explained the importance of the project: "We are extremely pleased to be working with The Australian National University to develop this crucial technology. The project forms a logical extension to the Fujitsu-sponsored Open Petascale Libraries2 (OPL) global initiative launched last year. It will cover some important new ground – tackling the challenge of scalable, robust, fault-tolerant computer simulation, which will be of increasing importance as we head towards exascale computing.

“We plan to use two key applications as the test beds for the research – tsunami modelling and plasma physics – and build on ANU's expertise in advanced mathematical techniques including wavelets and high-dimensional approximations to deliver advanced mathematical software for petascale and future advanced supercomputers.

“As part of the project, we will be undertaking specific optimisations on state-of-the-art supercomputers with multi-core nodes and complex communication networks, including Fujitsu's latest high-performance computing systems. We look forward to some exciting results over the three years of the project."

The Australian National University team is led by Professor Markus Hegland of the Mathematical Sciences Institute, with Professor Richard Brent and Associate Professor Stephen Roberts of the Mathematical Sciences Institute, plus Associate Professor Alistair Rendell and Dr Peter Strazdins of the Research School of Computer Science contributing as Chief Investigators. The Australian Research Council funding will be used to support targeted research collaboration between Fujitsu and this group, to employ a postdoctoral research associate and two Ph.D. students, and to enable staff exchanges and internships during the course of the project.

Note to Editors
1. Linkage Project (LP110200410)
Australian Research Council Linkage Projects support collaborative research and development between Australian higher education researchers and other organisations undertaking research and innovation. They are designed to encourage and develop long-term strategic research alliances in order to apply advanced knowledge to pressing problems and to strive for economic, social or cultural benefits. They also aim to foster opportunities for postdoctoral researchers to pursue internationally competitive research in collaboration with organisations outside the higher education sector that have demonstrated a clear commitment to high-quality research.

2. Open Petascale Libraries (OPL) Project
This new project falls within the wider Fujitsu-sponsored Open Petascale Libraries (OPL) project, a global initiative to develop algorithms and software that will serve as a platform for applications running on petascale-class supercomputers. Currently involving 14 partners, including universities and research institutions from four continents, the OPL project aims to promote open exchange of ideas and to make the developed code publicly available in open-source form, thereby contributing to the computational science community as a whole. Further information on the OPL Project is available at http://www.openpetascale.org/ .

About The Australian National University
The Australian National University (ANU) is one of Australia's premier universities and is ranked amongst the best in the world. It was created by Federal Parliament in 1946 to drive the nation forward and advance Australia's international standing through research and education of the highest quality.